Mumbai: Poet and Elgar Parishad case accused Varavara Rao, a COVID-19 patient, was on Sunday shifted to the Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai for neurological and urological treatment, an official said.
Rao, 80, was undergoing treatment at the state-run St George Hospital in south Mumbai since Thursday after being tested coronavirus positive.
During treatment for COVID-19, doctors found his condition to be stable but also observed he has neurological problems, the official said.
Neurologists from the state-run JJ hospital checked him on Friday and he was diagnosed as having delirium, a hospital official said.
Delirium is an acutely disturbed state of mind characterized by restlessness, illusions, and incoherence, occurring in intoxication, fever, and other disorders.
As he required neurological and urological treatment, he was shifted to the Nanavati Hospital in the wee hours on Sunday, the official said.
While at St George hospital, Rao responded well to COVID-19 treatment and his chest X-Ray and ECG were normal, he said adding he also underwent a CT Scan.
Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad- Maoist links case, was admitted to the J J Hospital on Monday and was later shifted to St George Hospital, after being tested coronavirus positive.
Lodged in the Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai under judicial custody, Rao was admitted to J J Hospital after his family members and several writers and activists asked Maharashtra government to immediately shift him to hospital for treatment, citing his deteriorating health condition.
Rao's Telangana-based family members had asked jail authorities to provide him immediate medical care, claiming that when he contacted them last week, he was in a "delirious state and hallucinating".
He is behind the bars for about 22 months and had approached the special NIA court, seeking bail on medical grounds and the prevailing COVID-19 situation.
On Monday, he filed two petitions in the Bombay High Court, seeking temporary bail owing to his ill-health and a direction to the jail authorities to produce his medical records and admit him to a state-run or private hospital.
Rao and nine other activists were arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, which was initially probed by the Pune Police and later transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
MUMBAI: Former Delhi University professor GN Saibaba, who is serving life sentence in a prison in Nagpur for alleged Maoist links, has filed a bail application before the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court, citing the outbreak of coronavirus in the jail. After Saibaba filed the bail plea seeking urgent hearing into it, a division bench of Justices Atul Chandurkar and Amit Borkar on Tuesday issued notices to the Maharashtra govrt and other respondents to file their replies before July 24, when the court will hear the case.
In his bail application, Saibaba said his weak health along with comorbidities make him vulnerable to contract the coronavirus infection.
He is lodged at the Nagpur Central Prison, where over 150 prisoners and 40 jail staffers have so far tested positive for coronavirus.
The jail houses nearly 1,800 inmates while 265 police personnel are attached to it.
In March 2017, a sessions court in Maharashtras Gadchiroli district convicted and sentenced Saibaba and four others, including a journalist and a Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student, for alleged Maoist links and indulging in activities amounting to waging war against the country.
The court held Saibaba and others guilty under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
Following the conviction, Saibaba was lodged at the Nagpur prison.
